great come from behind win. sheed looked like ben out there on the defensive end. rip brought explosive energy and everybody seemed to hustle. did you guys realize sheed is averaging 10 rebounds and 2 blocks a game?

i'm suprised no one has replied in this thread yet. a lot of people in this forum seem to have written the pistons off as too soft on the defensive end and at best a dead-end playoff team. if we played like this every night we'd take first place again. but we all know nothing really matters until the playoffs...

which is why speculation at this point is somewhat futile... whether it be negetive or positive.

I only saw the last part of the first half, right at the point when the Pistons made a run to get back in it after going down double digits. The Rockets really stunk it up in the 4th quarter, but good defense and solid bench contributions by Lindsey and Flip helped seal the deal. Rip had a huge night, 30 points with 8 assists and 7 boards. There are still some issues with the bench and with consistency--Brahma looked good when he played in the 2nd quarter, particularly one follow-up thunder slam right past Yao, but he didn't play at all in the second half. Nevertheless, even though they still have a long way to go, the Pistons have bounced back pretty well from their disappointing west coast trip.

Nice win indeed, despite upper 30 to 40 minutes for our starters except Nazr. I loved Sheed`s energy and focus, he seems to be more interested in going inside than in the past.

I wonder if Sheed can bring it like this every single night because for the Pistons to be successful he has to. Rip going too the cup is very encouraging, I wish he would holla at his backcourt mate to do the same. With their FT% they could do some damage scoring from the stripe.

Why does it seem like Tay still thinks Ben is behind him on defense or is he depending on Nazr to bail him out? I believe Delfino would have done a better job on T-Mac tonight. I didn`t say stop him, just defend him better than Tay did. Also, Nazr looks very slow in his defensive rotations and looks plain lazy on occasions with silly fouls. He doesn`t move his feet well at all.

I realize that hell would freeze before Flip got any credit... if they lose it's gotta be Flips fault... if they win it's becsause they woke up and decided to play... I will say that the team looked much more agressive on defense... they seemed to still have pep in the step... I'm guilty of calling them too old, but at 31 they should be able to still have adequte lateral quickness if they are motivated enough to get in condition... I think must have someone lit a fire under their ass... but no way could that be the evil Flip... musta come from someone else.
All I'm sayin is if you're truly unbiased you'll distribute credit to all parties (unless you got a grudge that you can't be fair about... that's called biased!).
That said it's just one game and they need to show they can do this on the road.... at least they're not the Heat right now.

Sheed is a premier defender down low. Again, that was on display. We have to make sure he has help__whether it is Davis, Nazr or through a trade. Dyss is a jump shooter on offense and on defense he doesn't have enough movement or presence to fill that principle counter to Sheed.

It was a nice win. A Piston win. We are at least starting to run some plays but not as consistently as we should. The defense is still questionable much of the time. We were late adjusting to Yao.

But it looked a lot more like Piston baskeball. Good to see Murray getting that third pass in the set. I knew his shot would go in then as that seems to be his game.

I realize that hell would freeze before Flip got any credit... if they lose it's gotta be Flips fault... if they win it's becsause they woke up and decided to play... I will say that the team looked much more agressive on defense... they seemed to still have pep in the step...

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They've been a lot better since halftime against the Hornets. The first half of that game was awful, but the second half was night and day by comparison. Then there was a bad second quarter against the Wiz, but they were good throughout the rest of that game. And last night, the Pistons went down big in the first few minutes of the second quarter, but they came back strong to cut it to 2 at halftime, leading into a solid third quarter and a dominant fourth. Whatever Flip told them at halftime of the Hornets game seems to have had an effect.

It is stated before on this forum and is becoming more obvious: it looks like Flip actually doesn't want to play Defino, but due to promises JD made to Delfino he has to play him.

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On the few ocassions that Flip has called a play for Delfino, he calls Rip's play for him, coming off of a curl for a catch and shoot. Even though Carlos has converted on this play zero times Flip would rather call this for him than to give him the ball and call pick and roll. It is not like we have so many playmakers that we couldn't use Delfino's skills.

Sheed was a-maz-ing at the end of this game. Let's hope he continues to play like that. They say he doesn't like to be the go to guy, but maybe Rip and Tayshaun's play will let him hide just enough so he doesn't feel like that guy.

That is a good idea (Sheed in Tay and Rip's shadow on offense) but will the coach understand it. If Sheed is the main defender down low (in the absence of Ben), then it is probably not realistic to expect him to be the go-to guy on offense.

Let Rip and Tay be the main scorers. Sheed off of Tay the other night was pure magic. Sheed produces best when he is not the main offensive threat. Then, you look up and he has 20 points anyway but in a different and more deadly context.

I keep waiting for the coach to figure out we need passes and plays to be a good offense. We do not have one on one players for the most part. The great playbook amounts to guys going one on one with whoever is hot.